It’s hard to know who will feel worse on Sunday morning, Brendan Rodgers or James Maddison.
Rodgers saw his side fail to capitalize on a home win to stay in the relegation zone and different sections of the fans chanted for his full-time sacking.
Maddison also had a nightmare in front of England manager Gareth Southgate.
James Maddison dropped his lines in Leicester’s dismal 0-0 draw with Crystal Palace on Saturday
Maddison failed to impress with Gareth Southgate watching from the King Power crowd
Brendan Rodgers’ side were booed after a draw with a poor Palace side
Desperate to impress with a World Cup on the horizon, the talented midfielder missed a corner and compounded a disappointing afternoon by lunging at Luka Milivojevic’s foot in injury time to earn himself a booking instead of the penalty he wanted.
Foxes owner Top Srivaddhanaprabha looked stony-faced at full-time. Rodgers will just hope he has enough credit to remain in charge for Thursday’s clash with Leeds, when the Foxes will have to do without Maddison, who is now suspended.
“You’re always open to criticism if you’re not winning games. I accept that,” Rodgers said afterward.
Patrick Vieira’s side remain winless in the Premier League away from home since April
Palace talisman Wilfried Zaha was unable to make an impact for a lifeless Eagles attack
“I’ve always felt that after our summer transfer window we should fight for our season and the players are doing that. I thought the performance was good even though we may not be at the top of our game in this moment”.
In Leicester’s defence, Palace goalkeeper Vicente Guaita was man of the match and Crystal Palace manager Patrick Vieria admitted: “It was a challenge for us. The second half was all about them, we have not done enough”.
Still, there was a lack of cohesion in Leicester’s play compared to the side that won the FA Cup in 2021.
The goalkeeper of the palace Vicente Guaita constantly stopped the progress of the locals
The England midfielder was booked for simulation after jumping into the box late on
Talisman Jamie Vardy was held until the last half hour and his only significant contribution was a lunge on Marc Guehi that earned him a booking.
Harvey Barnes and Patson Daka showed quality individual moments but there was less good collective play.
MATCH DATA AND PLAYER SCORES
Leicester (4-3-3): Ward 6.5: Castagne 7, Amartey 6, Faes 6.5, Justin 7; Tielemans 6 (Praet 82), Dewsbury-Hall 6.5, Soumare 5.5 (Mendy 65 6); Maddison 6, Daka 7 (Vardy 65 6), Barnes 7 (Iheanacho 84)
Unused substitutions: Iversen (GK), Soyuncu, Thomas, Albrighton, Pérez
Booked: Vardy, Maddison
Crystal Palace(4-3-3): Guaita 8: Ward 6, Andersen 6.5, Guehi 7, Mitchell 6 (Riedewald 56 6); Schlupp 7, Doucoure 6 (Milivojevic 56 6) 6, Eze 6.5; Ayew 6, Edouard 5.5 (Olise 65 6), Zaha 6 (Mateta 77 6)
Subs not used: Johnstone (Gk), Tomkins, Ebiowei, Balmer, Gordon
Booked: Andersen, Doucoure
Referee: Andy Madley 7
At the end, there were clearly audible chants of “We want Rodgers out” around the King Power and a banner reading “Address the time for action is now.”
Rodgers responded bullishly: “I had criticism when we finished fifth and won the cup. I came to Leicester to upset the top teams and we did that for a few years, but if you don’t get stronger and other teams do, they beat you
“I respect if there’s going to be anger, it’s going to be towards me. It can’t be towards the owners, they’ve been amazing here. It’s not going to change my focus. I can regulate the pressure, no drama.
Leicester started low and, for all the restrictions in the last window, Rodgers was able to name a bench featuring title winners Vardy and Marc Albrighton, as well as Ayoze Perez and Kelechi Iheanacho, who cost £25m each one
Without the injured Jonny Evans, there were early defensive jitters with Wilf Zaha and Odsonne Eduoard wasting chances for the visitors.
The Foxes finally came into their own as an attacking force with Daka testing Vicente Guaita, while Barnes would have scored had he had a better first touch in front of goal.
Maddison, operating out wide, was clean and tidy in possession but scorned the big moments. Early in the second half, when Barnes cut the ball to him in the six-yard box, he took an unusual hit and shot wastefully.
From then on, the harder he tried, the worse he got. He dragged a shot from 18 meters and another into the arms of Guaita.
The home side kept a clean sheet after conceding more goals than anyone else this season
Right at the end, with Leicester desperate for a winner, he tried to capitalize on a loose touch from Milivojevic and dramatically hit the ground as the Serbian tried to make amends.
Maddison was booked for simulation and, unfortunately for him, the England manager had stayed until the final whistle to witness it.
“You can’t judge him (Maddison) on this one game,” Rodgers said in defense of his player. “He’s a guy who plays out of position for the team because we don’t have a full-back.
Leicester fans have made their feelings clear about manager Rodgers’ ongoing struggles
“He is a top-level player at this level, unfortunately at the end he looked for the penalty but it wasn’t like that.
“I think he wanted to help and support the team. I haven’t seen him back, but he probably thought there was going to be contact and it didn’t come.
“We could do without him missing the next game, but it is what it is, and it’s an opportunity for someone else.”
Harvey Barnes was one of the home’s most promising attacks in the first half
Barnes had one of the chances of the match, but Guaita was quick to smother the danger
The only silver lining for Southgate was that defender James Justin impressed as a full-back option should both Reece James and Kyle Walker be ruled out of the World Cup.
Rodgers said he had been given no indication he would not sit out Leeds’ game with Wolves after that at the weekend. Realistically, he needs to win at least one of those to keep his job beyond the World Cup.
They restricted Palace to a shot on target when Danny Ward denied Edouard, but a win in 10 tells its own story.
Rodgers said he was impressed with his team’s performance and how they limited the visitors